Tag: pepper rabbit

Several awesome shows are going down this evening in Austin, and one of them that’s sure to generate a lot of buzz is going down at Mohawk with Braids and Pepper Rabbit throwing down together. San Francisco based Painted Palms round out the all indie lineup and provide opening support. This one is a hipster bloggers wet dream.

For a relatively new band, Pepper Rabbit seems to be moving at lightning speed. With their debut release, Beauregard, just making its appearance in October of last year, this band is back in less than a year’s time. In this short of a time period, Xander Singh and Luc Laurent have culminated a slew of all new jams. Now, if it had been any other duo making this quick of a return, it would be easy to be apprehensive of the merit of said release. However, the two gentlemen on this record have a powerful sense of what sounds good meshed together and it’s this collaborative ease that pushes Red Velvet Snowball to it’s best.

Claiming the genre psych pop, Pepper Rabbit begins this sophomore effort with “Lake House,” which is naturally coated in raging synthesizers of all sounds and forms. It creeps in slowly at first, showcasing the electronic sounds before establishing a solid rhythm and letting the toned down yelp of Singh to enter. It is a good appetizer, letting you get used to their styling before they move onto their spectacular single “Rose Mary Stretch,” which is clearly the main dish. Bouncy synth once more begins the song, but it doesn’t last for long before the pop elements take over; the faint handclaps in the background, the steady build to its furious climactic finish, or the crashing cymbals along for the ride.

After these first two songs, Pepper Rabbit should have a strong hold on your ears, but if they don’t, for some strange reason, stick around. There are plenty of treats later on in the album. An example of this comes in the form of “Murder Room,” whose groovy beats warrants head bobbing and toe tapping.

But the best part about Pepper Rabbit is that the electronic elements don’t overpower the sound produced. So often, a band throws in too many bleeping synthesizers and you can’t hear the other elements: the drums, the vocals, the other little nuances that keep it from turning into one big cloud of noise. This band incorporated various other instruments into their repertoire, and played around with looping of sounds and the result is a sound that feels fresh and crisp. There isn’t a song on here that you’ll need to skip.

With the end of summer looming close, Red Velvet Snowball is resurgence back to feelings of bliss and carefree that comes along with this immense heat, so enjoy it while you can.

Almost less than a year after their last release, it seems that Pepper Rabbit are returning again with a brand new record, Red Velvet Snow Ball. Said album will be released on August 9th viaKanine Records, and if it sounds at all like this debut track, it’s going to be pretty special. I love the way the song opens with this sort of bouncy beat, contrasted by some technological warfare on the sound itself. But, once they get going, it’s hard not to see this as anything as blissful pop music, of the best sort. For a duo, this band sure knows how to flesh out their own sound, which you’ll definitely be aware of when you listen to this on repeat for the next several hours.

It’s been a crazy couple of days for shows in Austin, and Monday is no different. You won’t get the huge amount of options like you did on Friday/Saturday, but you still will have your pick of three better than average shows. So if you’re looking for some sweet music to check out on a Monday night in Austin, follow the jump to see where we think you should be. Follow the jump.